Phillies notes: Hard luck for Hamels

PHILADELPHIA – Reporters lingered in the clubhouse shortly after the Phillies' 4-3 loss in 11 innings to the Mets on Sunday, waiting for Cole Hamels to speak.

But Hamels never came. He left before the clubhouse opened to the media postgame, a sign of frustration he shares with many Phillies.

Hamels was gutty, throwing 125 pitches over seven innings on a day when his team – especially the bullpen – needed him most. He allowed just two runs, only one of them earned. Outside of Ryan Howard's two-run homer, his teammates did nothing to help. The Phillies are 1-7 in Hamels' eight starts this season.

Hamels lowered his ERA to 4.01 on Sunday but has been fantastic of late. He has a 2.57 ERA in his last five starts. Hamels has pitched exactly seven innings in all five of those outings, and the Phils only have one win to show for it.

Hamels struck out eight Sunday, passing Curt Schilling for fourth place on the Phillies' all-time strikeout list. He has 1,561 strikeouts and needs 25 more to pass Chris Short for third place.

Most of his strikeouts this season, however, have been wasted.

"We came up short on the offensive end today," Sandberg said.

Roster moves

Two 14-inning games can take a toll on a bullpen, a major reason for the Phillies' flurry of roster moves before Sunday's game.

Jeff Manship headed to the disabled list with a right quad strain suffered in the 13th inning Saturday while hustling down the first-base line on a grounder that would've plated the winning run had he beaten the throw. He didn't, and the Phillies lost 5-4 in 14 innings.

Taking his place in the bullpen were Phillippe Aumont and Cesar Jimenez, who both came in with major league experience. Darin Ruf was optioned to Triple-A Lehigh Valley to make room for both pitchers. Per MLB rules, Ruf cannot return to the majors for at least 10 days unless a Phillie lands on the DL.

Both Aumont and Jimenez pitched Sunday. Jimenez pitched a scoreless eighth inning, while Aumont gave up a game-winning homer to Lucas Duda in the 11th.

To make room for Jimenez on the 40-man roster, the Phils designated Jeremy Horst for assignment. Sandberg said he expects the Phils to hold on to both Aumont and Jimenez for the next couple days, giving the bullpen an extra arm and leaving the bench a man short.

Extra-inning feats

The Phillies and Mets have logged three consecutive games of 11 innings or more, the first time that has happened since the Mariners and Blue Jays did the same in 1991.

The Jays and Mariners, however, only played one 11-inning game and two 12-inning games back-to-back. The Phils and Mets have thus far played two 14-inning games and one 11-inning contest. They cap their five-game series Monday night at 7:05.

Over the last three days, the Phillies and Mets have played 39 innings and put in 14 hours and 24 minutes of in-game work.

"It's exhausting," Ben Revere said.

Extra innings

Howard's two-run homer Sunday was his fourth in the past seven games, his most in a seven-game period since Sept. 19-22, 2012. ... Jonathan Papelbon has not allowed an earned run in 20 of his last 21 appearances.